I am now a star, my name got mentioned on This Week in Triathlon

On of the fun aspects of triathlon is that you will found creative people. Just look at my coach Tony DeBoom and the company he has with his wife Endurance Conspiracy. Tririg.com is another example.

This year Kevin Taddonio and Andres L. Douzoglou have started a weekly videocast about triathlon. They are talking about what is happening in triathlon from ITU, Ironman, non-Ironman branded races, technology, equipment and doping. With so little exposer endurance sports get in the US this is a nice addition to Slowtwich and other Internet sources.

I have of course asked/begged/pushed for Keving and Andres to talk about the best and most important triathlon in the world Norseman. And this week I succeed., I even got my name mentioned. Listen to the whole videocast and after 36 minutes you will hear about Norseman and my name will be mention.

Norseman equipment: the run

One part of Norseman that is not totally unique is the run, well that is not correct since I have to “run” (zombie walk) up a mountain the last 10 miles. The last three of those miles will be on a trail. But I do not have any plans of special equipment for that part. If German tourists can hike up in high heels, I should be able to walk up with running shoes.

I am bringing two pair of running shoes. My main pair is Asics Gel-Lyte33 and then I have a backup pair Saucony Kinvara. I am not going to run the run leg; I am going to survive it as best as possible, so I have chosen light shoes with soft cushioning. Why two pair? Some times it can be good to change shoes when cramping or if I get a blister.

Norseman equipment: clothing during the bike leg

You never know what kind of conditions you will face during Norseman. Most likely you will face several since you start biking in a fjord landscape, than bike over a tree less mountain area and then you go up and down from valley to mountain in true Tour de France style. If it is warm, the choice will be simple. I will race in my Pearl Izumi two piece tri kit.

 

Helmet

I have taken inspiration from the American Olympic champion in time trail Kristen Armstrong and will race a Catlike Chrono Aero WT. It is comfortable, easy to adjust and not too heavy. The helmet comes with a visor; most likely I will not use it.



Jacket

After this year’s Giro d’Italia the choice for a bad weather jacket/west was easy. The bad weather in Italy made most of the team scrambling to get a hand on Castelli Gabba jackets. The jacket is nice, you can take off the arms and then you will have a nice west.



Warmers

I will use Castelli Nano arm and leg warmers. These are almost water proof easy to use and will make it easy for me to adjust during the race.



Gloves and shoe cover

I easily freeze on my hands and will use gloves during the race. If it is warm I will use a pair of old Specialized gloves. If it is raining I will use special raining cloves from Castelli.



 

Norseman equipment: the bike

Go to any triathlon web site and you will see that the bike plays an important part of the triathlon brain. Most triathletes will never get tired of discussing, arguing and thinking of bikes. Why? Bikes are fun, they are mechanical, you can upgrade, change parts and most of all like with wheels you can buy speed.

 

The Norseman course is different than many other triathlon courses. At Norseman I will climb, time trail, go downhill, the surface will constantly change, it can be windy, you will need good breaks. Actually it is hard to find one bike that can do it all.

 

This is my setup:

Frame: Cervelo S5

Gruppo: Ultegra Di2

Crank: Roto compact

Clip on aerobars: Profile Design with Di2 shifters

Wheels: Mavic 40C

Bottle chases: some plastic



 

Norseman equipment: the wheels

During Norseman I will spend a lot of time on my bike. The bike course is not flat; it goes up, down, twist and turn. Even though Norway is raking in money from its oil and gas business, hardly any goes to making sure the road surfaces are good. So I will ride a challenging course on at time bad asphalt during potential bad weather (remind me why I am paying for this again…..)



Picking out the perfect Norseman wheel is not easy since the wheel has to be able to, climb, break without overheating, aero, tough, reliable and light. No wheel is all of those, so my goal was to find the closest best match. My choice is Mavic Cosmic Carbone 40C.



Mavic is not the first brand to be discussed in triathlon circus. But is you are following professional cycling you know the brand very well. Most likely you have gotten some Mavic training wheels on your bike when you bought it, you have trained on them and if you are honest they did perform excellent. Many triathletes have good experiences with Mavics training wheels, but are not familiar with the racing options. Mavics racing options are bomb proof, well made high performance wheels. Even more important, the wheels perform under all kinds of conditions, not just on a flat , dry course with no turns.



Why the Cosmic Carbone 40C for Norseman? I need a wheel set that first of all is clincher, which can take the beating from the road surface, which can climb and race TT, but on other factor played an important role. Carbone clinchers have not been famous for their ability to break; actually they have become infamous for overheating. Mavic’s 40C is the first carbon clincher with the same stopping power as an aluminum wheel.



Conclusion: For Norseman Mavic’s 40C is the best overall wheel for me.



 

My Norseman equipment: the swim

Putting together all the equipment for Norseman is fun, especially when you like me have to get a lot of new stuff. The challenge with Norseman is that it is a point to point race through different climate zones and with sometimes very changing weather. During the race you can have freezing cold rain on the bike and during the run the weather can be baking hot. Luckily for the swim it will be easier.

Swimming in Eidfjord will be beautiful. The fjord, mountains and waterfalls are stunning, but how is the water. On the positive side it is salt water, and most likely the tide will be beneficial. When it comes to temperature the water will either be cold or really cold. But I do not think it should be a problem. So what kind of equipment will I be using?

Wetsuit: Huub Archimedes 3:5



Googles: Tyr Nesta Pro (blue, blank and mirrored)



Hood: Zoot Sports (Huub did not have my seize)



Ear plugs: Yes (cannot remember the brand)



I also will bring an extra silicone swimming cap.

 

Be brave, trust the taper

Four weeks to the A race, to the jump from the ferry, to the world’s hardest triathlon, to what I have had on the calendar for the last one and a half year, and what is most important now? Be brave enough to do less, to taper.



Training for Norseman has been a battle of always feeling I should have done more, I should have squeezed in another run, swim or bike, I should have done more laps in the pool, run longer, bike more hills. But now I have to do less to performer more. This sounds a lot easier than it is; it is not easy to trust the taper. But I will do it and I am sure the outcome will be better than trying to push right up to I enter the ferry.



Up to this point I have been building base and endurance. It has always been a question of getting training in to the body, not getting performance out of it. The last four weeks is all about taking the fitness level and transform it to performance on race day. The goal is to have that tingling feeling in the legs the last days before the race. Trust me I am still working out, but I have more easy training sessions between the hard ones.



If I follow through with the taper, the taper will give me wings….

Norseman and my mom

Sometimes I feel like Norseman is a stage where parts of my life are played on. As you understand, Norseman has become more than just a bucket list race for me. I have found out that a lot of things in my life will play out with the race as a backdrop.

So what is the connection between my mom and Norseman? My mom did not have the best start in life. She lost her dad just six years old and that could not have been easy. She has some of her dearest and best childhood memories from Tessungdalen and Austbygde. After the last big hill and the false flat at Imingfjell, you are biking down the switchback to Tessungdalen. When you hit the valley floor you will take a left, or if you want to walk in my mom’s forest you will have to take a right. When you are closing in to T2 you will see a sign for Boeen School. Boeen is my mom’s maiden name. This is her place.



She left Rjukan and got a nursing degree, married my dad and the first 18 years of my life she was an amazing mom. She taught my brother and I about trusting our self, enjoy the outdoors and to take chances. My mom and dad divorced and sadly she ran into some demons later in life, one of them was alcohol. It was hard as a son to see you own mom losing herself when you remember her as a strong person.

My mom finally found the strength to face her demons and worked hard to get her life back. Sadly she ran out of time. At the same time she began to turn her life into something positive, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The cancer slowly took charge of her body and she became just a ghost of the former athletic woman she had been. The cancer got the best of her; even though she fought every hour, and trust me my mom was stubborn. But the game was over and she died Charismas Eve 2009.

So what is the connection between me, my mom and Norseman? The last 15 years of her life she lived in Tessungdalen and Rjukan. So she was an early spectator of Norseman. And as all moms out there, she had a lot of trust in her son’s abilities. She said that Norsman was a race for me.



Well her I am, in one month I will with racing bib #320 jump of the ferry and race the race my mom said I could do. When I am tired after the last climb on the bike I will be met by the beauty of Tessungdalen, the place where she was so happy. Closer to T2 I will pass a beautiful church; this is the place she is buried. On the run, right when you turn left to start running up zombie hill, I can look right and see her last house and the window she sat by every morning looking at the beautiful Gaustatoppen. And if I am so lucky to finish at the peak of Gaustatoppen I can say: mom – I did it.